Smog pump delete pulley alignment
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Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Oct 2025
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Smog pump delete pulley alignment
90 f150 5.0. I removed the smog pump a while ago and finally got around to putting on a delete pulley. I went with the Ford Performance one thinking it would be the easiest, least hassle. Shocker for me, that wasn’t true haha! Some said to buy Dorman 429-644 pulley and swap so you could use factory belt. Did that…Factory size belt didn’t work at all. Since you have to get a different belt size, don’t fret the other pulley.Tensioner laid all the way down and I could wiggle the belt.
Anyways, problem at hand. Everything bolted down, new belt on and the pulley is not aligned with other pulleys. It’s off by the thickness of the outer lip basically. I currently have a thick washer between the pulley and housing. Is that better or worse than shimming between the brackets and housing? Anyone else run into this issue or is it just my luck?
Anyways, problem at hand. Everything bolted down, new belt on and the pulley is not aligned with other pulleys. It’s off by the thickness of the outer lip basically. I currently have a thick washer between the pulley and housing. Is that better or worse than shimming between the brackets and housing? Anyone else run into this issue or is it just my luck?
Mountain Pass
Joined: Jun 2024
Posts: 114
Likes: 4
90 f150 5.0. I removed the smog pump a while ago and finally got around to putting on a delete pulley. I went with the Ford Performance one thinking it would be the easiest, least hassle. Shocker for me, that wasn’t true haha! Some said to buy Dorman 429-644 pulley and swap so you could use factory belt. Did that…Factory size belt didn’t work at all. Since you have to get a different belt size, don’t fret the other pulley.Tensioner laid all the way down and I could wiggle the belt.
Anyways, problem at hand. Everything bolted down, new belt on and the pulley is not aligned with other pulleys. It’s off by the thickness of the outer lip basically. I currently have a thick washer between the pulley and housing. Is that better or worse than shimming between the brackets and housing? Anyone else run into this issue or is it just my luck?
Anyways, problem at hand. Everything bolted down, new belt on and the pulley is not aligned with other pulleys. It’s off by the thickness of the outer lip basically. I currently have a thick washer between the pulley and housing. Is that better or worse than shimming between the brackets and housing? Anyone else run into this issue or is it just my luck?
Cross-Country
Joined: Jan 2024
Posts: 93
Likes: 11
As long as the pulley isn't whipping around and is making constant contact with the belt, it will be fine. But I would see if you can put like a spacer in there washers work fine. As long as your belt isn't getting chewed up and your pulley isn't smacking around, it shouldn't be an issue.
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Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Oct 2025
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Before I used the washer, the second the motor spun, the belt would jump onto the lip 2 “ribs” worth. I put the washer between the pulley and the housing just to see if I could get it to align. Is working fine now. I was more curious if there was an argument as to if I needed to move the washer between the mounting bracket and housing vs pulley and housing. It doesn’t wobble and seems to be aligned now anyways. I just didn’t want premature bearing failure, if that would cause it.
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Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Oct 2025
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I ran into a similar issue but mine was at a different angle. I used washers on one of the bolt holes to align it properly. I dont think any aftermarket bracket will be perfect unless you want to spend an evening and every washer at the hardware store to find the perfect fitment. In a perfect world, I would use the OEM bracket and pulley from California emission trucks (which are probably very rare) because they did not have a smog pump. But my truck is also a 97 so it’s a different generation from 1990.
@Jsouz50 thanks for the idea!
Last edited by 90project5.0; Apr 10, 2026 at 01:41 PM.
Thread Starter
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Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Oct 2025
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It has the auto tensioner so no way to adjust that, I don’t think? Tensioner is lifted right in the middle of the swing.
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Cross-Country
Joined: Jan 2024
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I had to spend the morning doing this exact thing. Yesterday a few a quick drives and everything seemed fine. This morning go on 40 minute drive and smell burning belt when I got out. Naturally, it jumped over on the pulley again and tore off the 6th rib completely. As crappy as it was to lose a brand new $40 belt, I was able to see better its resting path with the one rib missing. What a pain in the A$$ figuring out what washers had to go where to shim it out.. I didn’t see it yesterday, but it was angled probably like you had. Helped prove to the wife that I do need to keep that bucket of bolts, nuts and washers in the shed haha! Another 20 mile trip and another $40 belt and I believe it’s fixed…
@Jsouz50 thanks for the idea!
@Jsouz50 thanks for the idea!
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Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Oct 2025
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I had my pump gutted, but somehow the pulley shaft became bent.. no clue how that happened. No bearing play at all, but you can watch the nose of the shaft go up and down as you spin it.. so I removed it and got a shorter belt. I went with the bypass pulley because I wanted to use the 3 stock belts I have in my toolbox,, seems I still won’t be able to do that..
Hotshot
Joined: Jun 2015
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Just you? When I removed the air pump I installed the Motorsports pulley in its place and everything lined up.
I used the pulley that was on the bypass kit. It needed a different length belt but that was easy enough to figure out.
I used the pulley that was on the bypass kit. It needed a different length belt but that was easy enough to figure out.
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Fleet Mechanic
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I had read on another thread to use the Dorman pulley for F150s and you could run the stock belts size, not even close for me. So I run a 87.5” belt now with 3 91” and an 84” (no pulley in place for pump) in the toolbox. There’s a couple kids at the school by the house with OBS trucks. I’ll see if any are running a 302 and give them the 91” belts if that’s what theirs use.
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Fleet Mechanic
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Ok, so for anyone that reads this, I have to update one last time. If you put the bypass pulley, get the Dorman pulley mentioned above and you WILL be able to run the stock belt!! What is absolutely helpful is routing the damn belt the correct way… my stupidity. I caught that today while working on something else that the belt was routed wrong. No clue how I didn’t notice that the 4 times I took it off for the alignment problem, probably in anger..
Cargo Master
Joined: Mar 2007
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I fix cars for a living and I swear, I look at belts before I take them off. When I install the new belt, I rarely get it right. Why? Because I am an idiot. Pictures are so simple but I guess my ego says I don't need to take a picture. It's just a belt. Right? How can you screw that up? I lost count how many times I've screwed up such a simple task.
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Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Oct 2025
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I fix cars for a living and I swear, I look at belts before I take them off. When I install the new belt, I rarely get it right. Why? Because I am an idiot. Pictures are so simple but I guess my ego says I don't need to take a picture. It's just a belt. Right? How can you screw that up? I lost count how many times I've screwed up such a simple task.
If for some reason the stock belt isn’t in stock and someone needs an immediate fix, let me know and I’ll show you how an 88” belt works…
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